


Hey There, Katara

by cyrene



Series: How to Lose Friends and Alienate People [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Tabletop Gaming, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-27
Updated: 2015-11-27
Packaged: 2018-05-03 16:41:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5298644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyrene/pseuds/cyrene
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katara's birthday falls on a Saturday, and the Gaang tries to make things nice. They really do try. It's only a LITTLE fire...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hey There, Katara

**Author's Note:**

> I'd recommend you read this series in order, or else it won't make much sense.
> 
> I had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Despite the history, there's something to be said for holidays that are about nothing but eating good food all day. That's something I can definitely get behind.

 

 

The first thing Aang says when he opens the door is, “We have a problem.” His little face is all serious with its big, grey eyes, and baby fat, and complete lack of hair. The boy is fidgeting, which is not unusual, but he’s crossing and uncrossing his skinny arms in a way that’s unsure.

 

He can hear some kind of high-pitched, panicked wailing coming from the kitchen, so he sets his backpack, helmet, and the box he’s carrying down on the table.

 

Then he turns around.

 

“Oh, _fuck!_ _Fucking fuck_ , is that a _fire?!_ ”

 

“ _YES!_ ” Sokka wails from the sink, where he’s filling a pot with water.

 

The fire is on the stove and, to be honest, it’s not a _very_ big one. The oven door is left open, heat pouring out because someone -- probably the same _jackasses_ who _set the damned stove ablaze_ \-- forgot to turn it off.

 

“Don’t throw water on it, you idiot!” he shouts, jumping in before Sokka can hurl the contents of the pot.

 

He grabs a kitchen towel and beats it across the stove until the fire is out. He closes the oven door and turns off the heat. He takes a deep, calming breath to control the surge of adrenaline in his veins.

 

“How did this even happen? Weren’t you supposed to be baking a cake?”

 

“I don’t know! It was all going fine, and then… _whoosh_!” Aang throws his hands up in the air, presumably to demonstrate the flames.

 

He can see the cake -- or something that _might_ be a cake having a _very_ bad day -- still in its pan on the smoking stove. Everything around him smells burnt.

 

“Yeah, I don’t think this was _ever_ going fine. Don’t you have a fire extinguisher in here?”

 

“Umm…” Sokka looks around him in confusion, opening and closing cabinets at random.

 

He rubs his fingers in circles on his temples and sighs. “Never mind. Get this mess cleaned up before your sister gets home and freaks out, and try not to burn down the kitchen again. Uncle sent cupcakes. And a tin of tea, but…” He waves his hand absently. “You know.”

 

The box is a little squashed from be strapped to the back of his bike, but the dozen cupcakes it holds are fine. He puts them out on the table on a plate. There should probably be candles or something, but he doesn’t really trust Sokka and Aang around fire right now.

 

The front door slams shut, making the three of them jump from guilt, but it’s only Suki and Toph returning with drinks and decorations.

 

“What happened in here?” Toph demands, wrinkling her nose.

 

Sokka shuffles his feet, rubbing the back of his head and looking generally chagrined. “There may have been a _slight_ accident.”

 

“An accident?!” Suki repeats in a high voice, looking wide-eyed at the destruction. “Oh, no, the cake!”

 

“It’s okay,” Sokka assures her quickly. “Lee put out the fire really quickly, and his uncle sent cupcakes!”

 

Suki visibly relaxes. “Well, at least there’s that. You’re a really handy guy to have around, Lee.”

 

“Yeah, I get that a lot.”

 

He doesn’t. He’s pretty sure no-one has _ever_ said anything even _resembling_ that to him before.

 

He and Suki are the ones who end up cleaning the disaster in the kitchen, because Sokka and Aang are still doing more harm than good. They get to blow up the balloons, and tape them and the streamers -- blue, of course, for the waterbender -- to Katara’s usual chair. Harmless stuff like that, very little potential for danger or destruction, though Sokka does somehow manage to get a paper cut on his face. Suki puts a little Ninja Turtles band-aid on the wound, then she seriously tries to kiss it better. It’s just a little peck, but he’s pretty sure he’s going to gag.

 

He doesn’t realize he verbalized this threat until Suki sticks her tongue out at him and says, “You’re just an enemy of love, Fire Prince!”

 

His mouth twitches a little -- even _he_ can’t tell if it was going to be a frown or a smile -- but he manages to keep a fairly straight face. That’s probably the most accurate observation any of them has made about him since Katara made Charisma his dump stat.

 

“My father told me love is weakness; my mother told me love is sacrifice. The potential cost of finding out if either of them is correct seems too high to gamble on.”

 

It’s the most honest thing he’s said to any of them. Suki didn’t expect it; he can tell from the way her face changes. First surprise, then curiosity and a little pity. She shakes her head, but doesn’t say anything else, and that’s one of the things he likes about her. She doesn’t _push_.

 

It takes almost an hour, about a gallon of air freshener, and some strategically placed scented candles (on _candle warmers, not_ lit _!_ ) to return the kitchen to its pre-cake-attempt state. Even then, there’s still a slightly burnt smell around the place when Katara gets back.

 

She notices immediately of course. Her eyes narrow in suspicion. “What’s that smell?”

 

“What smell?” four of them ask simultaneously, and that looks _really_ guilty.

 

It’s Toph who manages to convince her there’s nothing wrong. “What?” she asks innocently. “The cupcakes, the candles, Lee’s cinnamon candy addiction, or the dog shit Suki stepped in?”

 

“What?!” Suki exclaims, lifting her feet to inspect the bottom of her shoes.

 

“Kidding!” Toph tells her with a big, shit-eating grin, and Suki rolls her eyes. It has the intended effect, though: Katara laughs, and forgets all about the burnt smell.

 

“So, did I hear there are cupcakes?”

 

“Yeah!” Aang leads her into the dining room, where both the cupcakes and the game stuff are already set up. “Lee’s uncle sent them.”

 

There is a chorus of “Happy birthday!” as Katara looks around the room, taking in the food and decorations. She claps her hands with delight.

 

“Is that my chair?” she laughs.

 

“Yes. Yes it is,” Sokka says proudly, flicking one of the sixteen balloons taped to the back. They’re squashed very close together so they can all fit, but it’s kind of funny.

 

“I love it!” she declares, sitting down amongst the blue streamers with the regality of a princess. “Thank you, guys! And, Lee, please tell your uncle thank you for the cupcakes.”

 

He nods.

 

“I was supposed to play ‘Happy Birthday’ for you on dad’s old guitar, but I think it’s broken.” Sokka frowns at the offending object where it sits on the couch.

 

“Do you even know how to play guitar?” Katara asks skeptically.

 

“It can’t be _that_ hard,” Sokka shrugs. “You strum it, and put your fingers on the strings, and stuff.”

 

He rolls his eyes, shakes his head, and holds out his hand. “Lemme see it.”

 

“What, you’re a guitar-fixer now?” Sokka asks, but Sokka hands him the instrument anyway.

 

“My uncle thinks music lessons are an important part of education,” he explains. Uncle had insisted on piano, which he had hated at first, until he realized how much easier teaching himself guitar came because of the lessons.

 

He looks the guitar over, and everything _seems_ to be fine, so he strums his fingers down the strings experimentally. He winces, adjusting the little knobs at the top until he’s satisfied. He plays a few seconds of the opening to an old song his mother used to sing, just to make sure.

 

“It just needed to be tuned,” he informs Sokka -- okay, a _little_ condescendingly. “And you should probably get new strings soon.”

 

Sokka is excited again. “Can you play ‘Happy Birthday?’”

 

“No.” Okay, so it was _kind of_ a sneer.

 

“What _can_ you play?” Suki asks with a calculating smirk. “Besides ‘Simple Man,’ I mean.”

 

He doesn’t hesitate. “ _No._ ”

 

“Katara,” Aang pipes up from where he’s sitting cross-legged on top of the couch, “play the birthday card!”

 

He and Katara share a look. He hopes his half of the look conveys enough pleading for her to take pity on him. He shakes his head ever so slightly just in case. Katara crosses her arms and grins, and he knows he has failed.

 

“Yeah, I’m gonna play the birthday card. Let’s hear it, Lee. What do you have for us?”

 

 “Fine. But no singing.”

 

Katara is still grinning. Even her malice is a beautiful thing. “Birthday card says you’ll sing.”

 

He hates singing -- it’s another thing he’s never been good at -- and he doesn’t even know why he’s letting them pull this whole “birthday card” crap. It’s ridiculous. He wants to tell them to fuck off, but they all live in this magical world where birthdays are this big special thing. A day where wishes come true.

 

He grits his teeth and says, “Fine, but remember you brought this on yourselves. I don’t want to hear anyone bitching.”

 

He thinks for a moment, trying to remember how the song goes. He thinks he’s got it, though he fucks up a little in the beginning. Toph starts laughing first -- she’s not exactly musical, but listening _is_ kind of her specialty. They all get it by the time he sings the first line, replacing “Cthulhu” with “Katara.” Because, you know, it’s her _birthday_. Magic, and all that shit. By the time he gets to the chorus, they’re all singing along, except Katara, who’s covering her face with her hands and shaking her head.

 

“Oh, it’s what you’ll do to me… oh, and all humanity! Oh, you’ll rise up from the sea… kill everyone slowly…”

 

“I _loathe_ you,” Katara mutters, but she’s still smiling. “Can we just play already?”

 

“Don’t blame me; you’re the one who played your stupid birthday card,” he points out, strumming a little softer now.

 

Hey, maybe she’ll hate him a little less now, despite what she just said.

 

As she walks by, she smacks him across the back of his head. She settles down in her blue throne with a smirk.

 

Maybe not.

 

 

***

 

 

A month later, for Sokka’s birthday, it goes unsaid that Lee’s uncle will provide any baked goods, so Sokka’s party goes off without a hitch. They tell Katara that it’s practically a tradition at this point. That doesn’t make sense, but Lee’s uncle makes really good cake, so she doesn’t complain.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Did I mention that [Hey There, Cthulhu](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxScTbIUvoA) is really a thing? I should mention it all the time.
> 
> Next up: "Random Encounters" -- in which a boy meets a girl and it goes very badly. Then they meet again, and it goes very badly again.
> 
> Oh, I'm on Tumblr, by the way: [this-is-not-my-dream](http://this-is-not-my-dream.tumblr.com/).


End file.
